Post by mhbruin on Jun 23, 2021 8:26:24 GMT -8
US Vaccine Data - We Have Now Administered 320 Million Shots
150 Million Fully Vaccinated!
CALIFORNIA - California Breaks the 41 Million Dose Barrier!
More than 1 dose for every person in California (39.6 million).
---------------
My Favorite Headlines Today
Elephants' Mammoth Trek across China baffles scientists
Supreme Court sides with high school cheerleader who cursed online
Tentacles of Manhattan DA's Trump probe reach former bodyguard Calamari
Herd of cows stampede through Los Angeles after breaking free from slaughterhouse
---------------
Brexit Keeps on Giving
Immigration enforcement officials will begin giving EU citizens who live in the UK a 28-day warning to apply to remain, the government says.
But the Home Office will allow people indefinite time to complete an application for settled status if they have a reasonable excuse for delay.
There is a week to go until the deadline for applications.
Some 5.6 million European Economic Area (EEA) citizens and their dependents have applied for settled status.
But there are around 400,000 cases outstanding, and the government's helpline is receiving thousands of calls a day.
---------------
Pluto Is Not a Planet and Now a New Ocean?
Millions of children around the world have grown up memorizing basic facts about geography: there are seven continents and four oceans.
Until now.
National Geographic, one of the world's pre-eminent and most visible mapmaking groups, has officially decreed the existence of a fifth ocean. Called the Southern Ocean, it's the body of water that surrounds Antarctica.
This confluence of the southernmost stretches of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans has always been an interesting -- and sometimes contentious -- spot for oceanographers.
---------------
England Put Benedict Cumberbatch on a Banknote. Wait. That Doesn't Look Like Him
The Bank of England began circulating its new £50 bank notes featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing on Wednesday, which would have been the pioneering math genius’ 109th birthday.
Often referred to as the “father of computer science and artificial intelligence,” Turing was hailed a war hero and granted an honor by King George VI at the end of the war for helping to defeat the Nazis. Despite this, however, he died as a disgraced “criminal” — simply for being a gay man.
“I’m delighted that Alan Turing features on our new £50 bank note. He was a brilliant scientist whose thinking still shapes our lives today,” Sarah John, Bank of England's chief cashier, told NBC News. “However, his many contributions to society were still not enough to spare him the appalling treatment to which he was subjected simply because he was gay. By placing him on this new £50, we are celebrating his life and his achievements, of which we should all be very proud.”
"we should all be very proud"? ? ?
---------------
Remember, Calamari is An Appetizer, Not the Main Course
New York prosecutors involved in a sweeping probe of the Trump Organization are investigating Matthew Calamari, the former Donald Trump bodyguard who's now a top executive at the former president's company, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
The development was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited people close to the matter who said Calamari, the Trump Organization's chief operating officer, was being investigated over whether he received tax-free fringe benefits from the company.
---------------
Yet the Federal Government Thinks It's the Same as Heroin
The US is nearing a tipping point of sorts on marijuana legalization: Almost half the country — about 44 percent of the population — now lives in a state where marijuana is legal or soon will be legal to consume just for fun.
The past several months alone have seen a burst of activity as five states across the US legalized marijuana for recreational use: New Jersey, New York, Virginia, New Mexico, and, on Tuesday, Connecticut.
---------------
87% of Americans Know What is Going On
A staggering 87% of Americans are worried that the United States is becoming less of a democracy (61% very worried, 26% somewhat worried). Fully one-half of Americans view the new voting laws being passed by Republican legislators in many states as an attack on American democracy.
Other noteworthy findings in this month’s poll include:
Most Americans (52%) think physicians should be allowed to provide health care to transgender youth that recognizes and supports their gender identity.
56% of Americans recognize that people of color in America face discrimination and unfair treatment based on race.
Only 16% of Republicans believe that people of color face discrimination in the United States, but a majority of Republicans (54%) say that white people are treated unfairly in America because of race.
---------------
Charles Blow Didn't Blow This
Republicans are in win-at-all-costs mode. They don’t really care how they sound today or will be judged by history. The only thing that matters is winning and retaining power, defending the narrative of America that white people created and protecting the power and wealth they accrued because of it.
I say dispense with the phony, wish-driven narrative Democrats are selling. Go down screaming and fighting. Much of the Democratic agenda may be stalled, but never stop reminding voters why it is: not because Democrats haven’t compromised enough, but because they could never compromise enough.
The current status quo is an unwinnable negotiation, because it isn’t a negotiation. This is a war. And in it, all is fair. Republicans have embraced a liar and racist in Donald Trump because their voters embraced him. They have excused and multiplied, in fantastical ways, the insurrection at the Capitol. They are rushing to write voter restrictions that also give them more say over how results are verified.
---------------
Did Alec Baldwin Cost the Previous Guy the Election?
Trump added that late-night comedy was an “illegal campaign contribution” to Democrats.
---------------
You Can Lose Control of Your Life Because You Shaved Your Head?
Why does Britney Spears still have a conservator?
The singer suffered a mental breakdown in 2007, alarmingly played out before the paparazzi who captured her behaving erratically, at one point attacking a car with an umbrella and at another shaving her head.
California law says a conservatorship, called a guardianship in some states, is justified for a “person who is unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter,” or for someone who is “substantially unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence.”
The conservator, as the appointee put in charge is called, may be a family member, a close friend or a court-appointed professional.
The Spears case shows that it’s not so easy to get out of a conservatorship in California. Critics of the state’s conservatorship law, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, regard the legal process of conservatorship as extreme, opaque, paternalistic and often unnecessary. They argue that current conservatorship law violates the civil rights of disabled people targeted for conservatorship.
There Are Many Horror Stories about California Conservators - Conservators Regularly Commit Fraud
---------------
Wouldn't You Like to Be Treated in a Hospital Where All the Workers are Vaccinated?
More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine have been fired or resigned after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the vaccine requirement.
A representative of Houston Methodist hospital system told CBS News 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period or were terminated on Tuesday.
The case over how far health care institutions can go to protect patients and others against the coronavirus has been closely watched. It's believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. But it won't be the end of the debate.
Wouldn't You Like to Work in a Hospital Where All the Workers are Vaccinated?
---------------
To Insure Promptness
A customer left a $16,000 tip at a New Hampshire restaurant after only ordering $37.93 worth of food and drinks earlier this month.
The male patron, who was not identified, tacked the generous tip to his order of two chili dogs, fried pickle chips and a few cocktails on June 12 at the Stumble Inn Bar and Grill in Londonderry, about 30 miles southeast of Concord, NBC Boston reported.
“He’s kind of a mystery man,” bartender Michelle McCudden told the news station. “I’ve been doing this a very long time and I never thought anything like this would happen to me."
Restaurant owner Mike Zarelle said he initially thought he misread the receipt.
“I thought it was a mistake,” he said. "Typo."
But according to staff members, the friendly customer assured them it was no joke.
---------------
Tell Your Favorite Former Felon to Vote
Only a fraction of the thousands of formerly incarcerated people whose voting rights were restored in time for the 2020 election made it back on to the voter rolls in four key states — Nevada, Kentucky, Iowa and New Jersey, a Marshall Project analysis found.
At least 13 states have expanded voting rights for people with felony convictions between 2016 and 2020. As a result, millions of formerly incarcerated people across the country are now eligible to vote.
Yet none of the states analyzed registered more than 1 in 4 eligible voters who were formerly incarcerated. That's significantly lower than the registration rate among the general public, where almost 3 in 4 eligible voters registered in each state.
---------------
You Tax Dollars As Work
Former U.S. President Donald Trump may have an unlikely ally to defend him against lawsuits alleging he incited the U.S. Capitol insurrection: President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
The Biden administration paved the way for that possibility, say constitutional scholars and lawyers in the cases, by arguing in an unrelated defamation case against Trump that presidents enjoy sweeping immunity for their comments while in office - and the right to a defense by government lawyers. Biden’s Justice Department used that rationale in a surprise decision this month to continue defending Trump in a case filed by E. Jean Carroll, who contends Trump raped her 25 years ago and then lied about it while in office, defaming her.
That decision reaffirms the position the department took under the Trump administration. And it has profound implications for several ongoing lawsuits, including one filed by two U.S. Capitol Police officers seeking to hold Trump liable for injuries they suffered defending the building in the Jan. 6 attack.
Attorney Philip Andonian said he fears the Justice Department, under the same legal rationale, will also defend Trump in a case Andonian is pursuing on behalf of U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat. Swalwell alleges Trump incited the deadly Jan. 6 riot in an effort to stop Congress from performing its duty to certify Biden as the election winner. Andonian called the logic behind the department’s decision to defend Trump against Carroll’s defamation suit “alarming.”
---------------
Some State Move into the Future. Some Move into the Past
More than half of U.S. states have lowered some barriers to voting since the 2020 election, making permanent practices that helped produce record voter turnout during the coronavirus pandemic — a striking countertrend to the passage of new restrictions in key Republican-controlled states this year.
Nevada permanently adopted universal mail voting this year.
The newly enacted laws in states from Vermont to California expand access to the voting process on a number of fronts, such as offering more early and mail voting options, protecting mail ballots from being improperly rejected and making it easier to register to vote.
Some states restored voting rights to people with past felony convictions or expanded options for voters with disabilities, both long-standing priorities among advocates. And in Virginia, a new law requires localities to receive preapproval or feedback on voting changes as a shield against racial discrimination, a first for states after the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013.
---------------
The Worst Road Trip Ever
It only took Oen Evan Nicholson minutes to kill two people in a coastal city in Oregon on Friday morning, authorities said.
Although police in the small community of North Bend weren’t far behind him, the next time they heard about Nicholson’s definitive whereabouts was 48 hours later, police said during public statements this week.
The triple-homicide suspect — whose alleged victims included his father — had quietly turned himself in on Sunday to police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a city more than 2,000 miles away.
After Nicholson killed three people in Oregon, police there said, the 30-year-old forced a woman to drive him to the Midwestern state and then lived to tell about it.
“There is always a sigh of relief when your suspect is in custody,” North Bend Police Chief Robert Kappelman said Sunday during a news conference.
Police in Springfield, Oregon, a city about 110 miles northeast of North Bend, said Nicholson had approached Laura Johnson on Friday during her lunch break in her work’s parking lot and forced her to take him to Wisconsin at the tail end of his lawless spree.
Nicholson forced Laura to drive him north, Springfield police said. They continued all the way to Milwaukee, where Nicholson was arrested without incident. Laura is safe and unharmed and on her way back to Oregon, police said.
Formal charges for this case are pending. Nicholson is being held in Wisconsin on fugitive warrants from Oregon, police said.
KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, reported that Johnson’s father, Dennis Johnson, said his daughter was abducted at gunpoint and drove Nicholson more than 30 hours, managing to get in his ear during the long and harrowing car ride.
"She was able to talk him into turning himself in," Johnson told KEZI.
---------------
Amazon May Be Evil in Employee Treatment, But ...
Amazon.com has added 14 renewable energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Finland and Spain, positioning it as the largest global corporate buyer of renewable energy.
The company said Wednesday the purchases speed up its goal to convert 100% of company activities to renewable energy. It claims it can hit that target by 2025, five years ahead of the original pledge for 2030.
The retail giant, whose fast delivery has historically drawn some criticism for the size of its carbon footprint, now has 232 energy projects around the world. That’s the equivalent of powering 2.5 million U.S. homes.
The 11 U.S. projects announced Wednesday include Amazon’s first solar from Arkansas, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, plus additional projects in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 6 GW of renewable energy in the U.S. through 54 projects. The energy will run Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center.
Now Convert Deliveries to Electric Vehicles
---------------
What's the Difference? Delta.
The proportion of Delta variant coronavirus cases in the US doubled in two weeks, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press briefing, Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor, said the variant was currently the "greatest threat" to the US efforts to eliminate COVID-19.
20.6% of the COVID-19 in the US are now due to the Delta variant. That is about double the rate seen on June 5, when the variant made up 9.9% of cases.
On May 22, 2.7% of cases were caused by the Delta variant, Fauci said.
---------------
150 Million Fully Vaccinated!
Doses Administered 7-Day Average | Number of People Receiving 1 or More Doses | Number of People Fully Vaccinated | |
| Jun 23 | 993,840 | 177,948,892 | 150,787,303 |
| Jun 22 | 1,048,167 | 177,635,067 | 150,424,675 |
| Jun 21 | 1,132,945 | 177,342,954 | 150,046,006 |
| Jun 20 | 1,234,838 | 177,088,290 | 149,667,646 |
| Jun 19 | 1,286,438 | 176,737,141 | 149,125,164 |
| Jun 18 | 1,362,712 | 176,290,249 | 148,459,003 |
| Jun 17 | 1,325,967 | 175,867,860 | 147,867,860 |
| Jun 16 | 1,165,956 | 175,053,401 | 146,456,124 |
| Jun 15 | 1,137,572 | 174,674,144 | 145,768,367 |
| Jun 14 | 1,113,416 | 174,234,573 | 144,919,339 |
| Jun 13 | 1,097,710 | 173,840,483 | 143,921,222 |
| Jun 12 | 1,120,571 | 173,391,711 | 143,119,077 |
| Jun 11 | 1,055,610 | 172,758,350 | 142,095,530 |
| Jun 10 | 1,138,099 | 172,423,605 | 141,583,252 |
| Jun 9 | 1,120,083 | 172,054,276 | 140,980,110 |
| Jun 8 | 1,074,204 | 171,731,584 | 140,441,957 |
| Jun 7 | 1,131,867 | 171,310,738 | 139,748,661 |
| Jun 6 | 1,133,361 | 170,833,221 | 138,969,323 |
| Jun 5 | 1,166,993 | 170,272,150 | 138,112,702 |
| Jun 4 | 1,199,416 | 169,735,441 | 137,455,367 |
| Jun 3 | 1,215,518 | 169,090,262 | 136,644,618 |
| Jun 2 | 1,303,431 | 168,734,435 | 136,155,250 |
| Jun 1 | 1,359,049 | 168,489,729 | 135,867,425 |
| May 30 | 1,315,466 | 167,733,972 | 135,087,319 |
| May 29 | 1,394,832 | 167,157,043 | 134,418,748 |
| May 28 | 1,500,632 | 166,388,129 | 133,532,544 |
| May 27 | 1,618,194 | 165,718,717 | 132,769,894 |
| May 26 | 1,703,162 | 165,074,907 | 131,850,089 |
| May 25 | 1,750,524 | 164,378,258 | 131,078,608 |
| May 24 | 1,782,714 | 163,907,827 | 130,615,797 |
| Feb 16 | 1,716,311 | 39,670,551 | 15,015,434 |
| At Least One Dose | Fully Vaccinated | |
| % of Total Population | 53.6% | 45.2% |
| % of Population 12+ | 62.7% | 53.1% |
| % of Population 18+ | 65.6% | 56.1% |
| % of Population 65+ | 87.4% | 77.3% |
CALIFORNIA - California Breaks the 41 Million Dose Barrier!
More than 1 dose for every person in California (39.6 million).
7-Day Average Administered | |
| Jun 23 | 119,190 |
| Jun 22 | 138,539 |
| Jun 21 | 149,318 |
| Jun 20 | 153,785 |
| Jun 19 | 158,531 |
| Jun 18 | 175,824 |
| Jun 17 | 182,364 |
| Jun 16 | 162,372 |
| Jun 15 | 148,077 |
| Jun 14 | 142,649 |
| Jun 13 | 150,217 |
| Jun 12 | 157,966 |
| Jun 11 | 161,902 |
| Jun 10 | 161,232 |
| Jun 9 | 178,150 |
| Jun 8 | 165,790 |
| Jun 7 | 182,811 |
| Jun 6 | 183,406 |
| Jun 5 | 179,462 |
| Jun 4 | 165,253 |
| Jun 3 | 165,225 |
| Jun 2 | 170,223 |
| Jun 1 | 179,213 |
| May 30 | 173,351 |
| May 29 | 193,204 |
| May 28 | 213,796 |
| May 27 | 230,733 |
| May 26 | 244,708 |
| May 25 | 258,249 |
| May 24 | 268,071 |
| Mar 1 | 214,579 |
My Favorite Headlines Today
Elephants' Mammoth Trek across China baffles scientists
Supreme Court sides with high school cheerleader who cursed online
Tentacles of Manhattan DA's Trump probe reach former bodyguard Calamari
Herd of cows stampede through Los Angeles after breaking free from slaughterhouse
---------------
Brexit Keeps on Giving
Immigration enforcement officials will begin giving EU citizens who live in the UK a 28-day warning to apply to remain, the government says.
But the Home Office will allow people indefinite time to complete an application for settled status if they have a reasonable excuse for delay.
There is a week to go until the deadline for applications.
Some 5.6 million European Economic Area (EEA) citizens and their dependents have applied for settled status.
But there are around 400,000 cases outstanding, and the government's helpline is receiving thousands of calls a day.
---------------
Pluto Is Not a Planet and Now a New Ocean?
Millions of children around the world have grown up memorizing basic facts about geography: there are seven continents and four oceans.
Until now.
National Geographic, one of the world's pre-eminent and most visible mapmaking groups, has officially decreed the existence of a fifth ocean. Called the Southern Ocean, it's the body of water that surrounds Antarctica.
This confluence of the southernmost stretches of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans has always been an interesting -- and sometimes contentious -- spot for oceanographers.
---------------
England Put Benedict Cumberbatch on a Banknote. Wait. That Doesn't Look Like Him
The Bank of England began circulating its new £50 bank notes featuring World War II codebreaker Alan Turing on Wednesday, which would have been the pioneering math genius’ 109th birthday.
Often referred to as the “father of computer science and artificial intelligence,” Turing was hailed a war hero and granted an honor by King George VI at the end of the war for helping to defeat the Nazis. Despite this, however, he died as a disgraced “criminal” — simply for being a gay man.
“I’m delighted that Alan Turing features on our new £50 bank note. He was a brilliant scientist whose thinking still shapes our lives today,” Sarah John, Bank of England's chief cashier, told NBC News. “However, his many contributions to society were still not enough to spare him the appalling treatment to which he was subjected simply because he was gay. By placing him on this new £50, we are celebrating his life and his achievements, of which we should all be very proud.”
"we should all be very proud"? ? ?
---------------
Remember, Calamari is An Appetizer, Not the Main Course
New York prosecutors involved in a sweeping probe of the Trump Organization are investigating Matthew Calamari, the former Donald Trump bodyguard who's now a top executive at the former president's company, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
The development was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, which cited people close to the matter who said Calamari, the Trump Organization's chief operating officer, was being investigated over whether he received tax-free fringe benefits from the company.
---------------
Yet the Federal Government Thinks It's the Same as Heroin
The US is nearing a tipping point of sorts on marijuana legalization: Almost half the country — about 44 percent of the population — now lives in a state where marijuana is legal or soon will be legal to consume just for fun.
The past several months alone have seen a burst of activity as five states across the US legalized marijuana for recreational use: New Jersey, New York, Virginia, New Mexico, and, on Tuesday, Connecticut.
---------------
87% of Americans Know What is Going On
A staggering 87% of Americans are worried that the United States is becoming less of a democracy (61% very worried, 26% somewhat worried). Fully one-half of Americans view the new voting laws being passed by Republican legislators in many states as an attack on American democracy.
Other noteworthy findings in this month’s poll include:
Most Americans (52%) think physicians should be allowed to provide health care to transgender youth that recognizes and supports their gender identity.
56% of Americans recognize that people of color in America face discrimination and unfair treatment based on race.
Only 16% of Republicans believe that people of color face discrimination in the United States, but a majority of Republicans (54%) say that white people are treated unfairly in America because of race.
---------------
Charles Blow Didn't Blow This
Republicans are in win-at-all-costs mode. They don’t really care how they sound today or will be judged by history. The only thing that matters is winning and retaining power, defending the narrative of America that white people created and protecting the power and wealth they accrued because of it.
I say dispense with the phony, wish-driven narrative Democrats are selling. Go down screaming and fighting. Much of the Democratic agenda may be stalled, but never stop reminding voters why it is: not because Democrats haven’t compromised enough, but because they could never compromise enough.
The current status quo is an unwinnable negotiation, because it isn’t a negotiation. This is a war. And in it, all is fair. Republicans have embraced a liar and racist in Donald Trump because their voters embraced him. They have excused and multiplied, in fantastical ways, the insurrection at the Capitol. They are rushing to write voter restrictions that also give them more say over how results are verified.
---------------
Did Alec Baldwin Cost the Previous Guy the Election?
Trump added that late-night comedy was an “illegal campaign contribution” to Democrats.
---------------
You Can Lose Control of Your Life Because You Shaved Your Head?
Why does Britney Spears still have a conservator?
The singer suffered a mental breakdown in 2007, alarmingly played out before the paparazzi who captured her behaving erratically, at one point attacking a car with an umbrella and at another shaving her head.
California law says a conservatorship, called a guardianship in some states, is justified for a “person who is unable to provide properly for his or her personal needs for physical health, food, clothing, or shelter,” or for someone who is “substantially unable to manage his or her own financial resources or resist fraud or undue influence.”
The conservator, as the appointee put in charge is called, may be a family member, a close friend or a court-appointed professional.
The Spears case shows that it’s not so easy to get out of a conservatorship in California. Critics of the state’s conservatorship law, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, regard the legal process of conservatorship as extreme, opaque, paternalistic and often unnecessary. They argue that current conservatorship law violates the civil rights of disabled people targeted for conservatorship.
There Are Many Horror Stories about California Conservators - Conservators Regularly Commit Fraud
---------------
Wouldn't You Like to Be Treated in a Hospital Where All the Workers are Vaccinated?
More than 150 employees at a Houston hospital system who refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine have been fired or resigned after a judge dismissed an employee lawsuit over the vaccine requirement.
A representative of Houston Methodist hospital system told CBS News 153 employees either resigned in the two-week suspension period or were terminated on Tuesday.
The case over how far health care institutions can go to protect patients and others against the coronavirus has been closely watched. It's believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S. But it won't be the end of the debate.
Wouldn't You Like to Work in a Hospital Where All the Workers are Vaccinated?
---------------
To Insure Promptness
A customer left a $16,000 tip at a New Hampshire restaurant after only ordering $37.93 worth of food and drinks earlier this month.
The male patron, who was not identified, tacked the generous tip to his order of two chili dogs, fried pickle chips and a few cocktails on June 12 at the Stumble Inn Bar and Grill in Londonderry, about 30 miles southeast of Concord, NBC Boston reported.
“He’s kind of a mystery man,” bartender Michelle McCudden told the news station. “I’ve been doing this a very long time and I never thought anything like this would happen to me."
Restaurant owner Mike Zarelle said he initially thought he misread the receipt.
“I thought it was a mistake,” he said. "Typo."
But according to staff members, the friendly customer assured them it was no joke.
---------------
Tell Your Favorite Former Felon to Vote
Only a fraction of the thousands of formerly incarcerated people whose voting rights were restored in time for the 2020 election made it back on to the voter rolls in four key states — Nevada, Kentucky, Iowa and New Jersey, a Marshall Project analysis found.
At least 13 states have expanded voting rights for people with felony convictions between 2016 and 2020. As a result, millions of formerly incarcerated people across the country are now eligible to vote.
Yet none of the states analyzed registered more than 1 in 4 eligible voters who were formerly incarcerated. That's significantly lower than the registration rate among the general public, where almost 3 in 4 eligible voters registered in each state.
---------------
You Tax Dollars As Work
Former U.S. President Donald Trump may have an unlikely ally to defend him against lawsuits alleging he incited the U.S. Capitol insurrection: President Joe Biden’s Justice Department.
The Biden administration paved the way for that possibility, say constitutional scholars and lawyers in the cases, by arguing in an unrelated defamation case against Trump that presidents enjoy sweeping immunity for their comments while in office - and the right to a defense by government lawyers. Biden’s Justice Department used that rationale in a surprise decision this month to continue defending Trump in a case filed by E. Jean Carroll, who contends Trump raped her 25 years ago and then lied about it while in office, defaming her.
That decision reaffirms the position the department took under the Trump administration. And it has profound implications for several ongoing lawsuits, including one filed by two U.S. Capitol Police officers seeking to hold Trump liable for injuries they suffered defending the building in the Jan. 6 attack.
Attorney Philip Andonian said he fears the Justice Department, under the same legal rationale, will also defend Trump in a case Andonian is pursuing on behalf of U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat. Swalwell alleges Trump incited the deadly Jan. 6 riot in an effort to stop Congress from performing its duty to certify Biden as the election winner. Andonian called the logic behind the department’s decision to defend Trump against Carroll’s defamation suit “alarming.”
---------------
Some State Move into the Future. Some Move into the Past
More than half of U.S. states have lowered some barriers to voting since the 2020 election, making permanent practices that helped produce record voter turnout during the coronavirus pandemic — a striking countertrend to the passage of new restrictions in key Republican-controlled states this year.
Nevada permanently adopted universal mail voting this year.
The newly enacted laws in states from Vermont to California expand access to the voting process on a number of fronts, such as offering more early and mail voting options, protecting mail ballots from being improperly rejected and making it easier to register to vote.
Some states restored voting rights to people with past felony convictions or expanded options for voters with disabilities, both long-standing priorities among advocates. And in Virginia, a new law requires localities to receive preapproval or feedback on voting changes as a shield against racial discrimination, a first for states after the Supreme Court struck down a key part of the federal Voting Rights Act in 2013.
---------------
The Worst Road Trip Ever
It only took Oen Evan Nicholson minutes to kill two people in a coastal city in Oregon on Friday morning, authorities said.
Although police in the small community of North Bend weren’t far behind him, the next time they heard about Nicholson’s definitive whereabouts was 48 hours later, police said during public statements this week.
The triple-homicide suspect — whose alleged victims included his father — had quietly turned himself in on Sunday to police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a city more than 2,000 miles away.
After Nicholson killed three people in Oregon, police there said, the 30-year-old forced a woman to drive him to the Midwestern state and then lived to tell about it.
“There is always a sigh of relief when your suspect is in custody,” North Bend Police Chief Robert Kappelman said Sunday during a news conference.
Police in Springfield, Oregon, a city about 110 miles northeast of North Bend, said Nicholson had approached Laura Johnson on Friday during her lunch break in her work’s parking lot and forced her to take him to Wisconsin at the tail end of his lawless spree.
Nicholson forced Laura to drive him north, Springfield police said. They continued all the way to Milwaukee, where Nicholson was arrested without incident. Laura is safe and unharmed and on her way back to Oregon, police said.
Formal charges for this case are pending. Nicholson is being held in Wisconsin on fugitive warrants from Oregon, police said.
KEZI in Eugene, Oregon, reported that Johnson’s father, Dennis Johnson, said his daughter was abducted at gunpoint and drove Nicholson more than 30 hours, managing to get in his ear during the long and harrowing car ride.
"She was able to talk him into turning himself in," Johnson told KEZI.
---------------
Amazon May Be Evil in Employee Treatment, But ...
Amazon.com has added 14 renewable energy projects in the U.S., Canada, Finland and Spain, positioning it as the largest global corporate buyer of renewable energy.
The company said Wednesday the purchases speed up its goal to convert 100% of company activities to renewable energy. It claims it can hit that target by 2025, five years ahead of the original pledge for 2030.
The retail giant, whose fast delivery has historically drawn some criticism for the size of its carbon footprint, now has 232 energy projects around the world. That’s the equivalent of powering 2.5 million U.S. homes.
The 11 U.S. projects announced Wednesday include Amazon’s first solar from Arkansas, Mississippi and Pennsylvania, plus additional projects in Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. In total, Amazon has enabled more than 6 GW of renewable energy in the U.S. through 54 projects. The energy will run Amazon’s corporate offices, fulfillment centers and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) data center.
Now Convert Deliveries to Electric Vehicles
---------------
What's the Difference? Delta.
The proportion of Delta variant coronavirus cases in the US doubled in two weeks, Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press briefing, Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor, said the variant was currently the "greatest threat" to the US efforts to eliminate COVID-19.
20.6% of the COVID-19 in the US are now due to the Delta variant. That is about double the rate seen on June 5, when the variant made up 9.9% of cases.
On May 22, 2.7% of cases were caused by the Delta variant, Fauci said.
---------------
